Share
News

Illegal Migrants Being Released Into US Without Court Notice - Or Any Paperwork at All

Share

Overwhelmed and unprepared, U.S. authorities are releasing migrant families on the Mexican border without notices to appear in immigration court and sometimes without any paperwork at all.

The rapid releases ease pressure on the Border Patrol and its badly overcrowded holding facilities but shift work to Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, the agency that enforces immigration laws within the United States.

Families are released with booking records; only parents are photographed and fingerprinted.

The Border Patrol began the practice two weeks ago in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, which has seen the biggest increase in the number of migrant families and unaccompanied minors illegally crossing the border.

The agency recently added instructions to report to an ICE office within 60 days to adults’ booking documents.

Trending:
KJP Panics, Hangs Up in Middle of Interview When Reporter Shows He Isn't a Democratic Party Propagandist

But some got no documents at all, including dozens at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in the Texas border city of Mission, where about 100 migrants released by U.S. authorities had been arriving each night to sleep on mats in classrooms in a shuttered elementary school.

Customs and Border Protection, which oversees Border Patrol, said it stopped issuing court notices in some cases because preparing even one of the documents often takes hours.

The agency didn’t answer questions about how many migrants have been released without court notices or without documents at all.

Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of Rio Grande Valley, knows of 10 to 15 families released without any paperwork since last week, an issue that has cropped up before when there are large increases in new arrivals.

Do you think President Biden's immigration policies led to the border crisis?

“It’s a problem, it’s a situation we need to resolve, to make sure we follow up,” she said.

Migrants will be issued notices to appear in court at their 60-day check-ins with ICE, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It is unclear how widespread the practice has been, but it is very common in Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings.

Preparing a court appearance notice can take an hour to 90 minutes, according to Chris Cabrera, spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, a union that represents agents.

A surge in the number of people crossing the border illegally, especially children traveling alone and families, has filled up federal holding facilities. The U.S. has been releasing families with children 6 and under and expelling families with older children.

Related:
Video of Overwhelmed Soldiers at Border Becomes Nightmare for Biden: Trump Super PAC Features It in New Ad

Initially, U.S. authorities didn’t even require the ICE check-in when it began releasing families without court notices over the past two weeks. But they shifted course.

Charlene D’Cruz, director of Lawyers for Good Government’s Project Corazon legal aid program, said ICE could potentially issue a notice to appear in court, expel people from the country or do nothing.

“There are so many different options, and I don’t know what’s going to happen,” D’Cruz said.

The immigration courts, with a backlog of 1.3 million cases, are ill-prepared for a large increase in new asylum claims.

At the shelter in Mission, a city of about 85,000 people bordering Mexico, migrants who have booking records closely guarded them. Along with their proof of a COVID-19 test, the documents are kept in large yellow envelopes that say, “Please help me. I do not speak English.”

Information on the booking form is sparse: name, nationality, gender, date of birth.

Jose Sansario waited at the shelter for a week after coming from Guatemala with his wife, Kimberly, and their 3-year-old daughter. They had difficulty finding flights to Richmond, Virginia, their final destination.

They left their homeland in early March because a gang threatened to kill him if he didn’t hand over money from his auto repair business. He said he heard the Biden administration was friendly to immigrants.

“We didn’t know what was true, but we had faith — faith that God would help us and that faith would allow us in,” Sansario said.

The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , ,
Share
The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative headquartered in New York City. Their teams in over 100 countries tell the world’s stories, from breaking news to investigative reporting. They provide content and services to help engage audiences worldwide, working with companies of all types, from broadcasters to brands. Photo credit: @AP on Twitter
The Associated Press was the first private sector organization in the U.S. to operate on a national scale. Over the past 170 years, they have been first to inform the world of many of history's most important moments, from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the fall of the Shah of Iran and the death of Pope John Paul.

Today, they operate in 263 locations in more than 100 countries relaying breaking news, covering war and conflict and producing enterprise reports that tell the world's stories.
Location
New York City




Conversation